


Continuity

by languageofthebeasts



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Abuse, Angst, F/M, Gen, Genocide, Genocide As A Plot Point, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Canon Compliant, Self Referential, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Parenting, Unhealthy Relationships, Unreliable Narrator, Unrequited Elyon/Cedric, references to pop culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 09:36:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/languageofthebeasts/pseuds/languageofthebeasts
Summary: Elyon tries to heal.





	Continuity

**Author's Note:**

> GEN. NOTES  
This was a fic a long time in the making. I had pages of notes and it was initially going to span canon and all this, but it ended up being too much to rewrite canon, so I hope everything makes sense. I knew what I wanted to begin with (pick a god and pray) and what I wanted to end with (I would not survive you a second time) and it was just a matter of filling out the in between. I ended up making multiple drafts of this and am finally somewhat satisfied enough to put it up. 
> 
> There were a lot of themes I wanted to explore (history, trauma, dreams, guilt, alternate universes, lies, forgiveness), and I don’t think I fully explored any one thing fully but I touched on a lot of the things I wanted to go deeper into and maybe one day I’ll get back to those things. I definitely wanted to clear some of the inconsistencies and plotholes the original series had, especially in regard to the Meridian court. (Mind you I’m referring to the show because, again, never read the comics properly.) Elyon’s evolution (or devolution?) is definitely not complete and it’s up to you really where her arc goes. It’s also up to you whether the Meridian trio is redeemed or not.  
Everything in this fic is chronological just cut up a bit so I hope the cuts weren’t too jarring and that the fic flowed well overall. I hope you enjoy and please leave a comment!

Elyon stands over the fallen bodies before her. There have been many during her reign, but she’s interested only in the one that begins to stir upon her approach. She raises her right hand over the fallen prince of Meridian, and she waits. Gathers the powers that had been stolen from her time and time again. It burns her from the inside out, makes her hair stand on end, and her eyes blaze with her own white light.

Phobos at last realizes what she is doing “Elyon! I didn’t mean for this to—”

She breathes in “I suggest you pick a god and pray.”

Her hand unclenches, his eyes widen in shock.

—

She wakes again in a cold sweat. Her bedclothes cling to her and her heart is racing. She can still see Caleb cornering her as he turns into something reptilian and can feel the thorns creeping all the way up her body until she chokes on them. She hears whispering and the sound of bugs scuttling across marble. Hears Cornelia laughing at her as the thorns tighten. Watches Raythor turn into Nerissa and feels herself being pulled into the nothingness again.

She hears the guards outside her door. Faint moonlight creeping in through the chinks in the door. There are murmured conversations that she can’t fully understand drifting in on the draft that creeps in. She reminds herself that her nightmares have been long locked up. That they couldn’t harm her now even if they wanted to.

It doesn’t stop her from waking again.

…

“I want to see Miranda.” Elyon says one day at breakfast, setting down the white cup.

Caleb and Blunk look up in shock, a half-chewed piece of bread falls from Blunk’s open mouth.

“What for?” Caleb says sharply.

“I want answers.”

“Blunk don’t like that plan.” The passling mutters “She scary.”

The rebel puts down his fork “I don’t like the idea either, but she’s been down there for nearly a decade. She’s weak and if nothing else, she’s been stripped of all her powers. Effectively, she’s just a mean girl.”

“Thank you, Caleb.”

“Blunk really don’t like plan.” The passling repeats, beginning to shake.

“I don’t either, but as long as you don’t let her get to you, you should be safe.” Caleb says.

Elyon smiles, and pats the shivering passling on the head

“I’ll be safe, don’t worry, guys. I survived Phobos and Nerissa, what could Miranda do now?”

…

“Take me to Lady Miranda’s prison.” She says to a very visibly upset Raythor.

“My queen she was locked away for multiple attempts not just on your life, but on multiple accounts of treason.”

“I know, Raythor.”

“She worked not only with Phobos against you, but with Nerissa, and with Cedric. She has no sense of loyalty or honour and I wouldn’t trust a word out of her mouth.”

“I know, but I’m asking you to please do this, Raythor.”

“Is that an order, your majesty?”

“A request.”

So he obeys. He takes her down the seemingly never-ending stairs and stops at a landing. The air down here is cold and foul. There is no sound from within the cell. The shifter has been silent for too many years. Raythor wonders what she does with all her time. Wonders if she gets restless in this body and this cell. He decides he would rather not know.

“This is her.” He whispers as he swings the torch towards the door.

Elyon stares at the door, and Raythor sees her hands shake as she swallows. She takes a step forward before freezing completely. He can see the glimmer of sweat on her pale face in the dim torchlight as she tries to breathe in but ends up choking on the stale air. He sees her knuckles go white as she visibly tenses. He places a reassuring hand on her back and feels her trembling.

“My queen?”

She whispers back, her eyes more whites than pupil “I can’t. I’m so sorry I can’t. Please take me back up.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

…

She enters the hall of paintings. A lifetime ago she had been told they were members of the proud Escanor line. Now she knows they were just faceless paintings that had been glamoured. She looks at the woman he had called “Primrose.” A fanciful name for a fanciful child.

Now she knows how ridiculous it sounds, how it had been too perfect to be real. Meridian had just been a dream in her mind for so long. Something her adoptive parents had dismissed as something she had seen in a movie. It had been a dream to be a princess of this half-remembered fantasy world.

It had been a dream to have a beautiful man tell you that you were a lost princess, that even though you were an orphan you had a brother somewhere who loved you. It had been a beautiful dream to wear beautiful gowns and have tea with beautiful men in beautiful gardens.

Primrose wasn’t even a Meridian name, she realizes now. Her Meridian is awful, but she knows enough. She knows enough to know that Meridian was nothing like her fantasies. She had just been young and stupid to accept the lies she had been fed on a silverspoon. It is a nightmare now to that Cedric was a liar, Miranda a monster, and that her brother had wanted nothing to do with her.

…

“Elyon you don’t have to see her if you don’t want to.” The earth guardian says, stroking the younger girl’s silvery hair.

Elyon leans into the touch “I have to. I have so many questions. And it’s not just her.” Her voice drops to a whisper “I still have nightmares. I see them everytime and I feel the thorns wrapping around me again.”

Cornelia is quiet for a long time, wrapping her arms around the young queen “We have nightmares too, Elyon, and—” Elyon hears rather than feels her breathe out “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if there is anything we can do. But we have to move on. We’ve survived the nightmares, but we can’t let them take us too.”

“I need answers, Cornelia, I need to know about my family and—”

“You don’t have to be so brave all the time, Elyon, we’re always here for you even when we’re on Earth. And if I’m not here, Caleb will be. Talk to him and talk to _me, _Elyon, you’re still my best friend.”

…

“I’m sorry Caleb I don’t know how to read this.” Elyon says handing the letter she had been reading to the man standing by her side. Despite the years on the throne, she still has trouble grasping the language. The letters blur together in her eyes and she simultaneously feels too young . She’s not sure how long she’s been in Metamoor.

Caleb takes the letter from her and scowls, “Rebels.”

“Rebels?”

“Not us. The kind that want Phobos back on the throne. They’re mostly nobility who were allowed to steal Meridian’s resources during Phobos’s rule.”

Elyon is silent, “Caleb, what kind of ruler was my mother?”

He shrugs, “I never knew Queen Weira, and she was before my father’s time.”

There is a gaping hole where any knowledge of her family should be. She had been so young when she had left Meridian. All she really knows are the lies she had been fed by Phobos and Trill. She doesn’t know her family, doesn’t know Meridian, doesn’t know Metamoor. She’s not sure she even knows the castle.

…

Hay Lin is practically floating in the air despite not being transformed, “Meridian is so beautiful now.”

“It’s almost like we got rid of the evil tyrannical prince or something.” Irma quips.

“It’s like a completely new place now, right Elyon?” Hay Lin asks.

“I…” Elyon stares off “I guess so.”

Cornelia watches her with concern.

“You should come back to Heatherfield,” the Earth guardian says, “I’m sure Alchemy and Yan Lin would love to see you again.”

“Ooh yes! Grandma wants to make you those dumplings you like so much.” Hay Lin interrupts “she says that you need a break from the Meridian court and all the books. It’s summer back on Earth! You shouldn’t have to be studying!”

Elyon laughs nervously “I’m not sure I should, but I would love to.”

…

Elyon stands at the landing before the cell as she has taken to doing as of late. She has tried to speak to the shifter, but had choked on fear every time. It is terrifying, Elyon thinks, to remember Miranda as she was. To see those glowing blue eyes in the darkness when she gets into bed at night.

Caleb had assured her every time that the former lady was securely locked away and stripped of any magic, but the fear persists. She hears the occasional shuffles from the cell, occasional footsteps. But no words, no humming. No sign that she’s human.

Elyon breathes in the stale air trying to gather courage when the other girl finally speaks.

“I’m glad you come to visit, your highness.” Miranda’s voice is raspy from disuse, but Elyon recognizes it. From where she is standing, she cannot see into the cell. She feels the temperature plummet.

Elyon backs up the stairs, trying not to breathe the poisoned air. Miranda says nothing more, and Elyon feels eyes on her.

…

“Queen Elyon?” A nervous voice comes from the doorway.

“Come in.” Elyon announces looking up from a Meridian children’s book, recognizing the visitor “Ah, Julian.”

“Caleb said you had questions.”

Elyon closes the book “I did, about my mother. Phobos destroyed all the records of her and my father and no one seems to remember her. I know she was before your time but is there anything you might know?”

“I’m sorry, your majesty, I only remember the beginning of Phobos’s days as ruler, but the late queen died before I was born.”

“I see.”

Julian opens his mouth then closes it then opens it again “I mean no disrespect, and I’m sure your mother was a great queen but…” he trails off.

“I take no offense, please continue.”

“I am sure she meant well, but she was not perfect.”

Elyon chews on those words “No, she wasn’t. But I suppose no one is.”

…

“Was our friendship a lie?”

The shifter stops in her pacing. Miranda looks older now, the bluish shadows under her eyes and the cold light from the torches do little to make her look younger or softer. There is no longer any hint of the helpless young girl Elyon remembers.

The shifter doesn’t respond, just cocks her head in acknowledgement and watches the young queen.

…

“You alright, Elyon?” Caleb asks as he walks into the study where Elyon sits staring at the pages of a Meridian fairytale.

She looks up at him, weary despite her youth “Caleb.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?” He says, approaching the desk.

“I don’t know how to move on.”

“Move on from?”

“Everything that’s happened since I left Heatherfield. The coronation. Nerissa. Everything.”

The former rebel is silent for a long time “You survived the trauma and now you have to live with it.”

“Remember that they didn’t win and that you survived.”

…

Elyon stands in front of the mirror. Less than a year ago she had stood in front of it, preparing for her coronation. Her skin had still been tanned back then from the Earth’s sun and her eyes still a bright blue. Her silver gown now reflects white in the moonlight, and her hair and skin have taken on the pallor of her brother’s. She feels more ghost than human.

When she closes her eyes, she still sees Miranda and Cedric standing on either side of her, discussing the coronation to come. The dark blues and greens of their robes stark in difference to the girlish pink she had worn back then.

Now there is no one, just a pale reflection of someone who resembles Phobos more than it does Elyon.

…

“There is something that healers call battle fatigue.” Caleb tells her “It’s common in soldiers who have seen battle. Women who were raped, children who saw their families slaughtered, men who were kidnapped by enemies.”

Elyon brushes it aside “I have yet to go to war with anyone, Caleb.”

“It isn’t always about the war. I know many great men and women who have it, and…” he trails off “forgive me, but I believe you may have it too.”

Elyon ponders this, fiddles with the corner of the book she’s reading “I see.”

“I’m not sure there is a cure, but many of my men seem to benefit from talking about it.”

Elyon doesn’t look at him.

Caleb pauses “It has always helped me to know that the horrors took place outside my head.”

…

Elyon dreams again that night. She sees Caleb go to battle, sees him cut down by a laughing Cedric. Sees Blunk being dragged away by silvery blue threads as his mother wails. Sees Cornelia crushed by the fists of yet another monster she doesn’t remember ever having seen. Feels herself being thrown into a bed and a man looming over her, and in the moonlight, he looks just like her.

…

“I remember I felt so scared and alone at the coronation. I thought that even if my brother was a monster, if Cedric was a monster, that even if I was surrounded, that I would still have you. I thought you were like me, lost. Alone. I thought you were the only friend I had left.”

Elyon tastes the tears rather than feels them “I remember not being able to move. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t cry. But I could see and hear. I heard the laughter, the things that you said. I spent days like that, having my powers drained and being unable to even cry. Being betrayed by people I thought I should have been able to trust. By my own family. By someone I thought was a friend.”

Miranda is silent, in the flickering blue torchlight of the dungeons, Elyon can barely see her face but there is a flicker of something and Elyon can no longer tell regret from resentment. 

“I was so young; I was so weak. And you just let it happen. I thought you would know what it felt like, but you just let it happen. You didn’t even blink. You just stood there and –”

Elyon isn’t sure if she’s screaming at this point, just knows that her voice echoes painfully in the cold cell and that her vision has been reduced to a flickering black and blue blur.

…

“What was it like? Leading the rebels back then?” Elyon asks Caleb.

He looks surprised at the question but answers solemnly, honestly “I hated it. I never wanted to lead. I never should have.”

“No, you shouldn’t have had to, but you did.”

“I did. Someone had to stand up for the people of Meridian and if that person had to be me, if I had to endure leadership for them, then I had to. I still have to, I think.”

“And what about what comes after that? The responsibility? The aftermath? How do you endure that?”

“You endure it because you have no other choice. Not when innocent lives are at stake.”

…

“I’m sorry for yelling at you last time.” Elyon begins. She sees Miranda turn at the words. The shifter looks less worn, although no younger.

She laughs, a brittle sound “I’m used to it. It seems to run in the family.”

Elyon’s blood runs cold “It shouldn’t.”

…

Yan Lin sets the steaming bowl of soup in front of her “How is Meridian?”

Elyon thanks her for the soup, blowing lightly on it “Better than it was a year ago but there is still so much to be done.”

Yan Lin sits down in front of her “You have done all you can for the good of your people. Centuries of tyranny can’t be cured in a few years. And you need to take care of yourself.”

“But what about the people? Do they have that benefit? I can’t just sit on my throne and let them suffer, that’s what Phobos did and look where it got us.”

“Elyon, you are still so young. And there is nothing wrong with letting those who love you, help you.”

Yan Lin blows on her own tea “and for what it is worth, your brother’s crimes are not your own.”

Elyon hums, drinks the soup, feels it warm her skin. It has been too long since she has felt warm.

…

Elyon stands in front of her old home, the Browns have long moved out. There’s a new family inside that she doesn’t recognize, but she sees the basketball and red bike in the front yard. She sees new purple curtains in the windows of her old bedroom, and she smells something sweet cooking in the kitchen.

There are footsteps and she tenses, raises her hands to defend herself until she sees that it’s just Cornelia.

“I had a feeling you’d be here.” The blonde huffs out, trying to catch her breath “I ruined my hair coming up here.”

“Sorry, I should have told you. I told Yan Lin on my way out.”

Cornelia stands beside her, looking up at the old house “I should have figured. How are you?”

“I’m… coping.” Elyon says “Well, I think I am.”

“That’s good, then. Better that than drowning in memories.”

Elyon continues staring at the house “Yeah.”

Cornelia pulls lightly on her arm “Come on, let’s go to the Silver Dragon, the girls are all there.”

Elyon forces herself to tear her eyes away from the purple curtains “I’m coming.”

…

“Elyon! How are you?” Will’s mother is as beautiful as ever, but Elyon sees the lines by her eyes “How’s uh… Melbourne was it?

“Mrs. Vandom!” Elyon forces some brightness into her tone “I’m good! I’m still kind of tired because of all the work but I think I’m doing okay.”

“That’s always a good sign.” Mrs. Vandom fiddles with her sweater “You grow up so fast.”

“I guess so.” Elyon responds, laughing nervously.

“Ah, you probably didn’t come to talk to me. I’ll go get Will.”

“Thanks so much, Mrs. Vandom.”

…

“What are you doing when you go to see her anyway?” Cornelia asks, draped over her expansive bed.

“Talking. Mostly just me yelling at her and she’ll reply sometimes.”

Cornelia picks up the silver backed brush next to her and examines her reflection “and what if she’s still lying to you?”

Elyon pauses, looks up from the magazine in her lap “You know, that’s what Caleb said too.”

“Of course, he’s my boyfriend. We think alike,” Cornelia says matter-of-factly “and what do you mean Caleb knew about this before I did?”

Elyon shrugs “He was there, and you weren’t.”

Cornelia’s face falls “I’m sorry, you’re my best friend. I should have been there for you more.”

Elyon softens her voice “It’s okay, you made a good point. But what does she have to lose now?”

…

_Ye Olde Bookstore _has now been long abandoned. The letters of the sign have already peeled off and the decorations that Elyon and Miranda had put up forever ago have long fallen. There is no handsome bookseller and there are spiderwebs spanning the expansive windows. The people of Heatherfield speak now of the mysterious night where the owner had disappeared into thin air, with no sign of him left behind. Just an old bookstore in disrepair. Young girls tell ghost stories about the handsome bookseller who haunts the shelves every night.

Elyon knows the truth now, of course. There is no ghost, no handsome bookseller. The only thing he has ever haunted has been her dreams. She is in as much disrepair as the shop.

…

There are piles of work and letters to respond to when Elyon arrives again in Meridian. It is well past the Meridian equivalent of midnight when she arrives in her room at last, collapsing into the silken sheets.

She rolls over to reach for the book she keeps by her bed. Tries to read to keep her mind off the nightmares she knows will come. She dozes off like that, hand outstretched towards her nightstand.

…

“Your brother planted the rose gardens to separate himself from the common folk of Meridian.” Caleb tells her one day “He would have traitors turned into roses as an example and they’d be planted at the outskirts of Meridian palace.”

“He distanced himself from common blood by surrounding himself in it.”

…

Miranda looks slightly healthier now though her eyes still retain the blue shadows and unnerving quality.

Elyon sees the remnants of Miranda’s meal as she approaches the cell, an attempt at an apology on her part towards the brunette.

“Thank you. For the food. You did not have to.” Miranda begins, then hesitantly “Your brother would not have.”

Elyon sets her shoulders, “I am not my brother.”

Miranda smiles, all teeth, “I can see that.”

“You never answered my question.”

The other girl looks confused “Which one?”

“Why you were at the castle and why you were the only girl.”

Miranda laughs, still brittle and somewhat shrill “I told you many lies in your time here, but that was not one of them.”

…

Elyon turns to the wizened old Meridianite who was tasked with maintaining the royal library “I don’t suppose there’s any records of how Lady Miranda came to the palace?”

The man hums “The beast who worked for your brother? There shouldn’t be. The former prince didn’t approve of anything that preceded himself. One night the beasts came, and no one knew why or how.”

“What do we know about the beasts?”

“Some sources say they’re older than Metamoor itself, some sources say they descended from the fair folk who were once a great species and ruled the lands and woods surrounding Meridian.”

“All that’s left are stories, unfortunately. Your brother was not fond of histories and all that remains is legend.”

…

“You made life in Meridian bearable back then. I was so lonely and when Phobos was gone it was just me in this big castle I remembered from dreams.”

“I remember you taking me out for tea and showing me the city. I was so happy to find someone my age.”

Miranda finally speaks “I’m not really your age, you know. Phobos just wanted you to think I was.”

“He would.” Elyon chuckles “I remember thinking you had a crush on him.”

Miranda’s face twists and Elyon sees the beast under the deceptive appearance. Still she says nothing.

“Remember my crush on Cedric?”

Miranda’s smile looks halfhearted at best, “I do.”

“You used to make fun of me for it. They were good times.”

Elyon pauses in her reminiscing “You were a good friend, whether or not there was any truth to it or not, I’m not sure. But seeing you that night is what really broke me.”

Miranda watches Elyon cautiously.

“I wanted to thank you. You made me happy for a while. It ended up all being a lie, but it was worth something.”

…

“Elyon, you can’t do this.” Caleb says, rising to his feet.

Elyon flips through the pages of the book absentmindedly, “Yes, Caleb, I can.”

Caleb approaches, puts his hands on her desk “Cedric is a completely different story from Miranda.”

“Is he really?”

Caleb scowls “Cedric is known as the prince of lies for a _reason._”

“Are you suggesting that I’m so gullible that he’ll somehow convince me to free him?”

“I don’t trust him not to try.”

…

Raythor accompanies her into the depths of the dungeons, and she sees the cells get older, the stone wearing away and the algae creeping up the walls. The green light seems to indicate that they’re under the moat, but she doesn’t know enough about the layout of the grounds to be sure. The chill sinks in, makes her feet drag and slip on the worn steps. Raythor puts a hand out to steady her every time, and for that she is immensely grateful.

She hears Cedric before she sees him. Hears humming of a song she doesn’t know but she would know that voice anywhere. It reverberates eerily in the depths of the dungeons and for a moment she doubts, her heart leaping into her throat.

She hates that he has this effect on her.

Raythor seems to sense her hesitation “Are you sure of this, your highness?’

She shakes her head, trying to clear the fog that had begun to creep in “Yes, I’m sure. Just give me a moment.”

“The traitor doesn’t deserve your light.”

“You said the same about Miranda.”

“Neither deserve anything better than they have received.”

“They have no power, they’re just people now.” Elyon reasons, whether she reasons with him or herself she isn’t sure.

“I would not trust them to keep their word.” He protests.

“Yes, but they’re the only ones who even know the truth.”

“I don’t like this, your majesty.”

Elyon sighs “Neither do I. But thank you for coming with me. You can wait outside if you would prefer.”

Raythor nods and leaves Elyon to talk to the man who has stopped humming. He now stands at the cell, watching her intently.

“You seem troubled, Princess.” He says at last. His voice is familiar, soft, something she had heard in dreams. A slight hiss at the end of the last word. He looks thinner than she remembers, his hair hangs loose, and his face seems more skull like. He’s squinting slightly at the light, but he is still as beautiful as she remembers.

Elyon sets her shoulders trying to ignore the memories “Queen now, actually.”

He smiles, cocks his head “It would seem so.”

There is silence.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, you aren’t the only one I’m talking to.”

Cedric lets out a soft laugh “Yes, I heard. And how is the lady Miranda?”

There is a hint of fondness in the name but Elyon tries to ignore it “I actually have questions I want to ask you.”

Cedric puts out a hand, indicating the depths of his cell “Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

…

“There’s not much we really know about the beasts. Most of the rebels were born after the culling of the beasts anyway. It’s hard to know what is myth and what is fact.”

“The culling of the beasts?”

“Many were killed before Phobos’s ascent to the throne. Which implies that they can be killed, but there’s little else known since…” Caleb gestures wildly “Well there’s only two known beasts left alive and no one has succeeded yet.”

…

“There was a time where there were more of us. Changelings, shifters, _beasts_.” The brunette practically spits the last word. Miranda sits on one side of the bars while the light of Meridian sits on a bench that had been placed in front of the cell for her.

“It was centuries ago. Not just like the lord Cedric and myself, but many many more kinds. We had thresholds all over Metamoor. Now the two of us are all that remain.” Miranda watches Elyon chew on the words.

“It is by your brother’s mercy that lord Cedric and I remain.”

Mercy is a foreign word on Miranda’s tongue, a thick coating of years of neglect. She has never developed a taste for it. 

…

“Do I forgive them?”

Cornelia rises from the bed, startled “Absolutely not.”

“They’re the last of their kind.”

“Even _more _reason to get rid of them.” The blonde says stubbornly.

Elyon sits on the bed, next to where Cornelia reclines “I’m not going to free them, don’t worry. I just wonder if forgiving them will bring me peace.”

Cornelia eyes her, still distrustful “Alright, good.”

There is a pause.

“I won’t pretend to understand, but I will always support and care for you.”

…

“There’re more than one kind of beast?” Caleb asks, perplexed.

“That’s what Miranda and Cedric are saying.”

Caleb splutters “I didn’t have much time to try and figure out their phyisiology while doing the whole revolution thing.” He paces, pondering “I always just thought they were the same.”

…

“On Earth, they try to protect endangered species.” Elyon says to Cedric.

The man behind the bars laughs at her “It’s a little late to set up those measures, your highness.”

“What can I do?”

“Beyond selective breeding and experimentation? Not much.” Cedric taps on the bars and Elyon startles. She scowls at him. He smiles, “My kind are said to be immortal so long as we are not killed by our foes. For as long as I remain here, very little will be able to kill me, assuming you do not turn on me.”

Elyon turns sharply on him “Turn on you like you did me, and then my brother?”

“And how _is_your brother?”

Elyon backs away from the cell “Thank you for your cooperation.” Her tone is final.

Cedric bends his waist in mimicry of a bow “I live to serve the throne of Meridian, your highness.”

…

From her place on the throne of Meridian, Elyon summons a vision of her brother. Looks down at the swirling silver sands to see him lying in bed. His cell is nicer than both Miranda’s and Cedric’s combined; larger and better lit. The barred windows let in pure moonlight and the thin curtains blow in the night air. The white gold of his hair is tarnished to a dirty silver and his skin looks dull. Still he lays in bed, staring, seemingly, up at Elyon. She has to remind himself that he cannot see her, that he has no power now. He is just a man.

…

“Is he as cute as he was back then?” Cornelia asks from across the tea table.

Elyon thinks it over “Not really. He’s looking a little… more snakey than I remember.”

Cornelia sips on the tea “Well. That would make sense.”

“Was he really that cute or were we just really young?”

Cornelia sighs, breathes in the air of the royal gardens “What a waste of a perfectly beautiful bookseller.”

Elyon nudges her “You have a perfectly beautiful Caleb.”

Cornelia shrugs “Caleb is wonderful, and I love him, but I wouldn’t quite call him pretty. He doesn’t have that gravitas, you know?”

Elyon looks at the teacup “I guess not.”

…

“The guardians told me about what happened on Kandrakar.” Elyon says.

Miranda doesn’t even feign interest “Did they?”

“I didn’t know you and Cedric had history.”

The shifter shrugs it off “What you call history, we call time. It has not been so long for us.”

…

“Your brother never liked getting his hands dirty. That’s why he made me do all the dirty work.”

Elyon nods in mock understanding, “Cleaner that way.”

“He liked his cleanliness, his rituals. Made him feel more than just a mere man. But he’s just another mortal.”

“He’s hundreds of years old.”

“A century is a blink in the life of an immortal.” Cedric sounds sad when he says it, “We’re patient. We learn to wait.”

“But he isn’t so patient.”

Cedric laughs, unearthly and unnerving “No, and that was always his problem.”

“No patience and an abundance of greed make for an ugly combination.”

…

Raythor announces Elyon’s arrival to a mostly dormant Phobos who merely grunts in response, causing Raythor to growl “Rise to greet the light of Meridian, traitor.”

“You can stand down, Raythor. I can handle my disgraced brother.”

Elyon sees Phobos wince slightly before he schools it back to careful indifference.

She knows it’s another one of his acts.

Raythor protests, unaware of the tension “Your majesty I—”

“Please wait for me outside.”

Raythor finally sighs “Yes, your majesty.”

He leaves, taking the torch with him. The only light that remains in the cell emanates from Elyon herself. Phobos looks up at her.

“Has the princess of Meridian come to gloat at her erstwhile brother?”He pauses, only to laugh with no real mirth or joy “But I suppose she is queen now.”

“She has been for many years.” She says, trying not to fidget with her sleeve. Even stripped of his powers and dignity, he still instills a sense of panic in her.

“It is difficult, you see, to keep up with the news of Meridian here in this tower.” Phobos says, his eyes watching her fidget.

“How does imprisonment suit you, Phobos?”

Phobos smiles at the name “Nowhere near as well as being queen has suited you, my dear sister.”

Elyon stiffens “I am not a naïve little girl anymore; I’m not falling for your lies.”

“I would never, my dear sister. I do not lie.”

She releases her sleeve “No, you made Cedric and Miranda do it for you.”

Phobos smiles, approaches her through the magical barrier “And have Cedric and Miranda creeped their way into your good graces again, my dear sister? Have you forgiven them after everything they’ve done to you?”

Elyon steps back “What I do with them is no longer your concern.”

Phobos’s smile widens, predatory “I suppose not.”

…

Hay Lin pokes at the Meridian delicacy “You’re sure this is safe to eat?”

Elyon laughs with her, “I hope so. It’s delicious. Sweet.”

She watches the brunette prod the contents of her bowl before taking a small bite, much to Elyon’s surprise, the other girl breaks into a smile.

“It’s delicious!”

Elyon relaxes, “I told you, didn’t I?”

…

“And what do you want from me now?” Phobos finally stands. Watches Elyon tense.

“I want answers.”

“Seeing as I am…” Phobos waves his arms noncommittedly “imprisoned and deposed of my throne, I have nowhere else to be, dear sister.”

“Tell me about our parents.” An order.

…

“I’m worried about Elyon.” Cornelia says to the assembled group around the table.

“When are you _not _worried about Elyon?” Irma asks, stabbing a dumpling with her chopstick “I would be willing to bet good money that you spend more time worrying about her than not.”

“And I was right to be worried last time!” Cornelia protests “She’s been spending all this time in that tower.”

“Well what can we do, other than advise her against officially forgiving them?” Will asks, fiddling with her chopsticks “She’s just talking.”

“_Talking _is what got her kidnapped into Meridian the first time.”

…

“Your brother, for all his mercy, thought we were monsters.” Cedric says, “He let us live, but not without a price. For people like us, that is the price we pay.” He pauses “To be feared.”

Elyon says nothing.

“I know you think I’m a monster.”

Elyon turns to him “How could I not?”

…

There are times where Elyon feels like an imposter in her own mind. She dreams of different Elyons. Elyons who had not been Elyon Brown. Elyons who became as Phobos had. Elyons who had died when she was supposed to die. Elyons who loved differently. Elyons who would hurt the ones she loved. Elyons who loved people she was not supposed to love.

She feels the weight of all the different timelines, different hers that live in her mind. It stifles her. She wakes and chokes on possibility.

…

“Was I easy to lie to?” Elyon finally asks the other girl.

Miranda looks up in vague interest “You were young. Naïve. Weak. Anyone else would have been.”

“Do people think that about you? When you look the way you do?”

“Those who know better don’t. But many do. I know you did. It made it easier for me to convince you.”

“Now I know better. I’m not so weak anymore.”

Miranda looks her up and down, “Are you, your highness? From where I stand you may appear strong, but even when you are strong, you are weak.”

…

“Does Cornelia have these nightmares?” Elyon asks Caleb one day. “These things have to affect her to some level.”

He shrugs “On the surface, she is very similar to how she was when I first met her. Distance and time have made it difficult for me to dig any deeper.”

…

“Our mother adored you. You were the heir that she and Meridian had prayed for for so long. I was young and was cast aside for an infant who had only just begun breathing.”

He pauses. Elyon looks up at him from her bench across the room. His face is carefully still. Set in stone.

“Meridian rejoiced at the news. There were months of celebration. When one ended, another began. They named buildings after you before you even had a name.”

“I was forgotten.”

“Still, our mother was cautious. They had to ensure you would survive. And you did. You were named heir. You began to walk. Began to speak.”

“But she became paranoid, saw threats where there weren’t any. Wanted to eliminate anything that could threaten you. She began the culling of the beasts.”

…

“Sometimes I have nightmares about Nerissa. Sometimes it isn’t just Nerissa. Sometimes it’s Phobos too.” Caleb laughs nervously “You know how they say tyrants give birth to rebels.”

“It’s hard to be reminded that your blood could do such things.”

“Who would I be without Phobos? Without the rebellion? Just another vagabond. Another ruffian. Aimless.”

Elyon nods “A rebel without a cause.”

“I would have died long ago.”

…

Elyon is practically dozing off on the bench when it comes to her “Miranda, who were you before you came here?”

The shifter messes with her hair, it’s grown longer in the years since her imprisonment “I sometimes forget that I was someone before I came here.”

“Do you remember your parents?”

“I was sent away when I was very young. I was only a child.”

“That… must have been hard.”

The shifter shrugs “It’s unimportant. It happens. You move on.”

…

“How do you love someone you don’t know anymore?” Cornelia asks, draped this time on Elyon’s bed. Elyon puts down her pen. She had never taken to using quills.

“Is this about Caleb?”

“Of course, it’s about Caleb. Who else could it be? Peter?”

Elyon eyes her carefully “Do you want it to be about Peter?”

“I don’t know think I know Caleb anymore. If only he had stayed, maybe things would be different then.”

…

“Despite our mother’s best efforts, not all the beasts were killed. You know them now as Cedric and Miranda. But that’s neither here nor there.”

Elyon clutches at her silver gown, feels her knuckles go white and all the blood in her freeze.

“Our mother attempted genocide?”

“She succeeded save for those two.”

…

“Queen Elyon, you must understand. It was a different time.” Julian says, trying to console a very irate queen.

“I know it was centuries ago! I know it was a different time, but since when has genocide ever been acceptable?”

“If I may, your majesty, it was a time of fear and uncertainty. The fate of Meridian rested on you, a child. Your mother only did what she thought was best. Now we know it was wrong and cruel, but she did not have the luxury of foresight at the time.”

“And why was this ever allowed?”

Julian steps forward, “Your majesty, I am not attempting to justify the decision. Only to explain why it had been made.”

“And no one ever told me! I had to learn this from a war criminal?”

“I am sorry, Queen Elyon. It is difficult to hear about the crimes of one’s parents.”

Elyon pauses, thinks of Caleb and Nerissa.

“For what it’s worth, I ask that you remember that history has not always been so kind to its subjects, your majesty.”

“My mother was not so kind to her subjects.”

…

“I could not find peace for many years. Even now I cannot.” Cedric’s voice is a faint hiss in the gloom.

“It’s not as if you have anything else to do here.”

“I am old. Perhaps it is time.”

“Human old, or old for your kind?”

“I am someone who did not die when he should have.”

…

There is shocked silence.

Then “I’m surprised no one told you before.”

“Who else would have told me? No one else remembers.”

“Ah.” Miranda clears her throat, “Many centuries ago, Queen Weira began her attack on my kind. We were considered savage and volatile.”

“Phobos called it the culling of the beasts.”

She laughs, high and shrill, “He would.”

“But he took you in.”

“He did.” Miranda’s voice dies down, “I told you, that was not a lie. My family was killed by yours. Not by rebels. And I was taken by your brother.”

…

“One night, there was an attack on my life. The criminal was caught, but not hanged. He walked away years later, a free man. He was pardoned by our mother. I am in this tower as a criminal, and yet he was not.”

“There were whispers that our mother had ordered it. That I was just a spare whose ambitions had grown too great. My own mother thought I was a monster.”

“And she was right to think that. That night I snuck into her room, I killed both her and the prince consort.”

Elyon goes cold, her hair stands on end.

“She was found moment later by one of her attendants. It sent the palace into chaos. When I came to you to finish the job, you had already been taken. The rest is history.”

…

“How much blood is on my hands, Caleb?”

His reply is instantaneous, “You have not been queen long enough to accumulate any.”

“But my family’s blood is my own. Everything Phobos did falls on me as his sister.”

“By that logic, everything Nerissa did would fall onto me as her son.”

“You are nothing like her, Caleb.”

“And you are nothing like your brother, Elyon.”

…

“Was I ever anything but an obstacle in your way to the throne?”

Phobos is silent, “I loved you once, many many years ago. Before you were even born. I was excited to have a sister. Someone to share the burdens of royal life and someone who I could teach. I did not know then what your birth would entail for my plans.”

Elyon sighs, “I never asked for the throne.”

“I never asked for our mother to try and kill me, and yet, here we are. Reaping the consequences of somebody else’s choices.”

“Do you ever regret?”

Something flashes behind grey eyes. Elyon thinks of the portraits that remain of Queen Weira with the eyes clawed out. He looks so much like their mother like this.

“Would I be a bad brother if I said no?”

…

“I should have learned to lie from you.” She tells the shifter.

“You shouldn’t start. It’s a bad habit. Once you start, it’s hard to stop.”

“And ambition, is it a bad habit too?”

Cedric chuckles “One of many mistakes. It will not happen again.”

“A mistake implies that it wasn’t planned.”

“Clever girl.”

“What should I do if you try again?”

“You may not have learned to lie, but I believe you have learned.”

…

“When I went to find answers in the libraries, I found that all histories had been destroyed.”

“I have never been fond of history. Nor the value that we have given it. There’s as much substance to it as there is to gossip and twice as many lies.”

“Julian once told me that history is not always so kind to its subjects.”

“It is not. And when my time comes, it will not hesitate to obliterate. When new histories are written, it will paint me and my mistakes.”

“You would have deserved it.”

“And when your time comes, dear sister. Will it be so kind?”

“When my time is up, I can only hope that I have done enoughto be deserving of its mercy.”

…

“Caleb.” She tries to keep the fondness out of her voice.

He nods back at her, settling down on the steps next to her. They sit in silence watching one of Meridian’s many moons set.

“Sometimes I forget this place is real” she says, “Sometimes it just feels like the dreams of a little girl.”

“When I was on Earth it was like seeing all that Meridian could become. Meridian doesn’t have to be so different.” He speaks so rarely of his time on Earth that Elyon takes a moment.

“When I came to Meridian with Cedric the first time, it was suddenly real to me. I couldn’t believe it. It was a beautiful reality that I didn’t believe I could ever deserve.”

“How did it change?”

Elyon laughs but she cannot keep the bitterness out of it “It became a fucking nightmare.”

She smiles at him “I’m finally starting to feel real again.”

…

“How do you find love after loss? How do you find peace?”

Miranda toys with the blanket “The peace I found and the love we had is perhaps not the kind you should seek. It was not a peace worth keeping and not the kind of love you die for.”

“The kind of love you kill for, then.”

…

Phobos sits at the royal dining table. It is laid in a fine linen cloth, and the dishes are polished silver. His hair gleams under the light of a hundred floating candles. All he can hear is the fire from the candles and the clinks of silverware. The guards are long gone and there is no music to accompany the fine feast. No wind creeps in through the chinks in the stonework.

“Eat well, my brother.”

He smiles, picks up the fork. Looks at his reflection in the goblet placed before him.

“And to you, my sister.”

There is silence. They eat. He looks up at his sister and the white light she is bathed in. Her voice is quiet, “I would not survive you a second time.”

He bites.

**Author's Note:**

> POPCULTURE REFERENCES  
“Pick a god and pray.” – Fire Emblem (originally: pick your goddamn shitty god and pray, motherfucker)  
“There is nothing wrong with letting the people who love you, help you.” – Uncle Iroh, Avatar The Last Airbender  
“First you were a dream, then you were a beautiful reality. But now? Now you’re a fucking nightmare.” – Not sure where this is from actually, but I saw it in a piece of art in the Kuroshitsuji fandom but have since lost it and am unable to find it. If you find the source, please let me know.  
“History is not always kind to its subjects.” – Uncle Iroh, Avatar The Last Airbender  
“I would not survive you a second time” – (via whispr app with the caption “an eight word plea to stay gone.”  
“A hundred years is a blink in the life of [an elf]. I’m patient. I can wait.” – Thranduil, The Desolation of Smaug  
“Even when you’re strong, you’re weak.” – Azula, Avatar The Last Airbender Comics: The Search  
“My own mother thought I was a monster, she was right of course [but it still hurt]”/ “You think I’m a monster.” – Azula, Avatar The Last Airbender  
“Have you come to gloat?” -Loki, Thor: The Dark World  
“When my time is up, have I done enough?” – Eliza Schuyler-Hamilton, Hamilton: An American Musical  
“History obliterates. In every picture it paints, it paints me and all my mistakes.” – Aaron Burr, Hamilton: An American Musical  
“That’s how you survive the trauma. Not by knowing it’ll be all right, but by having no other choice…. I don’t have the luxury of breaking down right now. Not when innocent lives are at stake.” – Hay Lin, W.I.T.C.H.  
Phobos’s resemblance to Weira was based on how Zuko and Azula each resemble the parent with who they had the most complicated relationship.  
Phobos's prison is based loosely on the Tower of London but not really.  
CANON DIVERGENCES:  
I was initially going to rewrite parts of series canon to work better and thus this fic is based on that. Since I never got around to that, here’s what was changed though i hope it wasn't too weird:  
• Elyon left Meridian when she was very young, but she did live there for a time and she does have vague memories and dreams of it. It’s part of why she believes that she’s princess when Cedric tells he. And it ties into this concept of Meridian as a dream and later a nightmare.  
• Miranda goes to Earth with Cedric. Always thought it was ridiculous that someone who looked like a grown man had to do it when Miranda looked the same age and could have gone and befriended Elyon so much more easily plus it would lend more weight to her friendship with Elyon and to Miranda as a character.  
• Phobos doesn’t lie to Elyon. He makes other people do it for him. I thought it was an interesting take and there’s no canon basis for it. But Phobos has always seemed the type to delegate actual dirty work to other people. Based vaguely on the concept of fae and how they can’t really lie to you but they can mess with you in other ways.  
• Cedric and Miranda are presumably the same species. There are subdivisions among their kind but as far as the humans of Meridian are concerned, they’re the same thing.  
• Miranda’s the one who leaves the message at the train station from A Service To The Community which isn’t particularly plot relevant but it’s a hc I have.  
• The whole Phobos backstory is made up. The comics probably explain it better but I read exactly one volume and it was way in the beginning. What I’ve created is a combination of things I’ve deduced from canon and also just what I think would work in story.  



End file.
